No idea who this guy is, but i got the cd off Naxos and was amazed and terribly happy with it. After all the serious listening it was quite a relieve to hear something that resembled the first time feeling of rhapsody in blue again....question here.....kinda wanna know more about the composer, and any other sort of music especially written for orchestra which is NOT film music but has this kind of general acceptability factor. Thanks!

During a vacation in Australia a few years ago, I nearly filled up an extra suitcase with superb Aussie CDs. A great introduction to Graeme Koehne (born 1956, Adelaide, South Australia) is an ABC Classics CD called Powerhouse. The title work on the CD, Powerhouse (1993) is a zesty orchestral rhumba inspired by an electricity generation plant. Three Poems of Byron* (1993) for mezzo-soprano muse on love. Capriccio* (1986) for piano and strings is a concerto à la Mozart and Stravinsky. Nocturnes* (1986) are poetic and impressionistic. Unchained Melody (1990) melds elements of popular and classical music. [Elizabeth Campbell, Mezzo-Soprano; Clemens Leske, Piano. Adelaide Symphony Orchestra / David Porcelijn, *Janos Furst. ABC Classics ABC 442 349-2 (Australia).]

Another fine piece is his exquisite short work To His Servant Bach God Grants a Final Glimpse: The Morning Star, which exists in several arrangements (guitar, harp etc.). This is a chorale on Wie schön leuchtet uns der Morgenstern (How Brightly Shines the Morning Star), which soars above a gentle stream of slow quavers (arrr, me mateys, they be 8th notes). It depicts the recovery of the blind Bach's vision 10 days before his death.

Dave

David Stybr
Personal Assistant and Der Webmeister to author Denise Swansonhttp://www.DeniseSwanson.com~ Scumble River Mysteries ~
Book 7: Murder of a Smart Cookie, July 2005
Penguin Putnam ~ Signet, New York, New York